Categories

The remarkable tardigrade may change how we think about evolution

This microscopic water creature is so hardy it can survive the vacuum of space. It has also managed to incorporate a large amount of foreign DNA, which may not only explain it’s incredible resiliency, but may change how we think about evolution. Key quote:

We think of the tree of life, with genetic material passing vertically from mom and dad. But with horizontal gene transfer becoming more widely accepted and more well known, at least in certain organisms, it is beginning to change the way we think about evolution and inheritance of genetic material